I am considering the purchase of a TORII MK II. As recommended I would initially listen with my current speakers which are spec'ed at 90db and min 9 watts. These are a pair of Von Schweikert VR-4 that I have owner for a number of years. Thoughts 'will this be ok for a start?'

I am interested in lower powered non mammoth equipment in the future. I presently have a pair of VTL MB450's. I also am interested in being involved with a tighter user base where I can discuss my equipment and be more involved with the company and its customer base. I live out in the sticks in NH and no dealers close by. I have also found not living near a dealer most companies do not even want to talk about or support my current products. Getting a bit feed up with it all.

So, I am basically taking another approach to my audiophile system that I am hoping will work out more to my satisfaction.

Questions on tubes for initial order. I am thinking of using the 6n1p but am still undecided on the offerings for the rectifier tubes and output tubes. I usually listen to my MB450's in tetrode mode rather than triode as I find the triode on this amp to be a bit mushy. This amp uses 6550-C tubes. Any advice is appreciated to get me started.

I live in the rainforest on the north shore of Maui, about twice as far as you do from Decware and have had great interaction and support from this forum and the company. I am about to order an amp and am building their HDT speakers from a kit-lots of help from this web location. The boonies are no hindrance to web users and I suspect your lucid questions will beget equal replies. aloha, mike

Mike is right, lots of help and support from this forum and Decware. Calling is probably best to contact the company. I'm not much of a caller, so I use email a lot. My last six emails though, five have gone unanswered and a very important question I had about why my amp came configured differently has not been addressed. So calling is the thing to do, my calls have never been unanswered.

I think you'll really enjoy the Torii in comparison to the other amps you've used. I recently bought Ziggy's Torii and will probably have it here in my system in a few weeks. Looking forward to that! As for tubes, I'd recommend using the stock tube component for a while to get a handle on the sound. In my two other Decware EL34 based amps I've been using the new "Mullard" brand power tubes and have been quite surprised to find them very nice. I've used RCA brand rectifiers in the past. Currently I'm using the stock Rubys in my new Integrated and am happy they are without the "buzzing" I've heard from them in the past. I'll probably try to find some RCA brand tubes to replace them in the furture, depending on which system the amp is in.

I don't own a Tori but have some experience with 6550/KT88 tubes. The Genelex gold lion brand are the holy grail in most amps and probably would be in the Tori, price is staggering but if you want the best......

I have not tried the new issue Genelex 6550/KT88 but have used the reissue El34 & EL84 and found them surprisingly good I may even rank them up there with my second choice the more affordable NOS GE or Sylvania tubes.

Third choice would be SED Winged C. Many of the manufacturers use this tube in their amps. I have used a set in an Audio Research D76 to my satisfaction.

For rectifiers I give the edge to Mullard GZ34 or Mazda 5Y3GT, I have used Mazda so long I may have a bias, they are rugged and I can't fault the sound.

Received my Torii MK II Thursday morning and have had an absolutely delightful first day with the amplifier. Was nice to hear my wife say ‘Gee that’s pretty’ as I set the tubes in the sockets. After firing it up and waiting about 20 minutes we dropped in the first well known CD. My gosh we both sat there in awe. Amazing! As I stated in an email to Stone Deaf I am happy the crew at Decware are able to work with and realized their passion and am totally pleased as a customer to share in the experience. I have not had this much satisfaction with a purchase in a long while.

Even being new out of the box this amp performed close to my old VTL MB450’s (much more expensive) but pluses all over the place. Comparing to a another new set of mono solid state amps (near 4 times the cost) there was no contest. I am also a now understanding the ‘Usable Power’ blog post on the main site. Using my Von S.. Vr4’s at 90db efficiency I never got anywhere near taxing the amp.

My present setup is Theta Basic II > Theta Pro Gen Va > ARC LS22 > Torii > VR4’s using a combo of Decware and MIT interconnects with MIT MH 770CVT’s to the speakers. I am waiting on a ZP3 to get my vinyl collection going again and really looking forward to that day Had to sell my old ARC PH3 during a $$$ crisis.

From here my only additional experiment will be bi-amping to the VR4’s , Torii Mk II on top section and Bryston’s on bottom just for the heck of it after I get an additional set of speaker cables. I can though honestly say I would be a happy camper with just the Torii on its own.

One last comment. I saw a post here also where someone said something about hum. I did not experience that here. If I pressed my ear right up against the driver at full gain I did hear a little but backing up just an inch or so it was gone. I have just installed a couple new dedicated 20amp quad sockets and still have to unpack my isolation Audio Power transformers. For now though it is still perfect.

Thanks again for input and I am really excited to move on with time here and see just what Torii does after a more hours.

Steve "brought it up to production specs" which is great. Not sure if the "feedback switch" that Bob had but had not installed has been installed, but I'll finally have an amp with more than one input (two) which will be welcome.

Alright, good news your Torii is on the way. Really liking mine a lot here. Also yes, do like the two inputs for sure. I have a DAC backordered (PS Audio PWT) that will hook directly to the Torii. All else goes through the LS22.

I had BASS. I mean real bass. I haven't ever had this kind of bass from a Decware amp.

Quite addicting.

I haven't exactly gotten a handle on everything yet. It's a bit more forward, now, than the Integrated had become. That may change, maybe not. Lots of tweaking to do probably, moving the speakers around will be the biggest.

This week I've also gotten some exciting guitar equipment in the house so I'm having fun!

PS: I've moved the Integrated into the bedroom system, being driven by the pre-amp out of the Peachtree Audio Decco and driving the speakers that came with the Decco. All I can say is. . .best sound yet in the bedroom, and I've had some really good sound going in there. The Integrated matches up perfectly with those components.